Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary at the Xara Palace Hotel +35621450560 in Msida, located in a beautiful 17th-century CE palazzo, with our private Jacuzzi on the huge balcony in front of our suite from where we enjoyed the most marvellous views over the entire country.
Touring the rural Gozo Island (67 sqkm in size, which is approximately the same size as Manhattan) by chauffeur-driven Mercedes, together with our longstanding Swiss/German friends Margrith and Ernst, thus visiting (i) the Cathedral Church of Gozo, (ii) the Santwarju tal-Madonna ta' Pinu sanctuary, (iii) the picturesque seascapes of Dwejra Bay, Fungus Rock and the Azure Window and (iv) the two Ġgantija temples (the Giants' Tower), a megalithic temple complex that had been erected during the Neolithic Age (c. 3,600 - 2,500 BCE), which makes these temples more than 5,500 years old and some of the world's oldest manmade religious structures.
Matt: Crewing for the Italian 45-foot X-Yachts racer SY "Durlindana" (as a member of an international crew - Italians, Americans, a Frenchman and a German/South-African under the experienced command of our friend Alessandro) in the 22nd edition of the 600 nm long Middle Sea Race, organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, starting from Marsamxett Harbour in Valletta, leaving to port the Island of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria and Lampedusa Islands, sailing through the South Comino Channel, keeping Malta to starboard and coming in third amongst only 11 yachts which eventually limped over the finishing line in front of Fort Manoel at Valletta (out of 17 yachts at the starting line) in this challenging and unpredictable autumn race.
Laundering for ML 8,- (DM 40.-) per 10-kg load at a local laundry in town (washed and dried).
Konni: Flying with Air Malta to Munich/Germany for ML 150.- (DM 700.-) for a return ticket and visiting our son Armin in Munich and our daughter Ulrike in Freiburg i.Br.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Fighting, at anchor, with one of those nasty Maltese autumn squalls (our anemometer peaked at 65 knots), getting our own land line caught in the propeller thus loosing our engine power and being rescued by the heroic dive professional DM Konni who bravely dived into the strong surge and cut through the blocking line below the up-and-down moving stern of SY "Kamu II" - very, very close to a dangerous rock.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
DM Konni with Renate and Dieter: Scubadiving the most beautiful reefs and u/w caves that surround the Maltese Islands with Octopus Garden Diving Centre +35621578725 in Qawra.
Walking round St. Paul’s Island where the apostle Paul supposedly was shipwrecked on his way from Caesarea to Rome in 60 CE and which was named after him.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Exploring the 3.5 sqkm small Comino Island, named after the cumin herb once grown here, the third of the Maltese islands, swimming in the clear water of the Blue Lagoon, hiking along the many dusty goat paths and climbing old coastal watchtowers (and singing: “All along the watchtower…”).
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Meeting our German friends Renate and Dieter who came to sail with us around the islands Malta, Gozo and Comino, having a great cockpit party together and preparing SY “Kamu II” (especially the galley) for the next few days of cruising as a team of four.
Dining out at Sammy's Seafood Restaurant in Mgarr +35621556543 on Gozo Island and feasting on local specialities such as torta tal-lampuki (dorado fish pie) and dentici (sea bream), washing it down with Maltese Marsovin white wine.
Clearing harbourmaster (our friend and fellow sailor Chris), customs and immigration at the one-stop Malta Yachting Centre +35621332800 near the entrance to Msida Creek, not only all free of charge, but also fast and efficient since Malta wanted to join the European Community, and being impressed with the total lack of any red tape.
Exploring La Valletta, the capital city of Malta and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the place where on the 28th March 1566 CE the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, Jean Parisot de la Valette, had ceremoniously laid down the foundation stone of what was to become one of the first European cities to have been built in a chequered pattern.
Walking through the hilly streets and stairways that criss cross the city of Valletta from one side to the other, from Marsamxett Harbour to Grand Harbour, and marvelling at her Baroque churches, stunning palaces (many of these palaces served as the auberge for a particular langue of Knights), manicured gardens (stuffed full of busts, statues and plaques illustrating various personalities and significant events from the Maltese history) and impregnable forts (which are still marked with scars from German and Italian dive-bombers from WWII).
Counting the over 400 coloured marble tombstones that had been used to pave the floor of St. John's Co-Cathedral.
Touring Malta with our competent tour guide Larry and thus visiting Victoriosa (with the large fortification of Fort St Angelo which the Royal Navy - with an English sense of humour - listed as a ship, originally as HMS "Egremont" in 1912 CE, but then renamed as HMS "St Angelo" in 1933 CE), Senglea (also called Civitas Invicta, because it managed to resist the Ottoman invasion at the Great Siege of 1565 CE), the double-fortified harbour city of Cospicua, St. Paul's Grotto in Rabat (once a Roman prison and later a WWII air-raid shelter), Mdina (the old capital of Malta situated in the centre of the island) and Mosta's dome with its famous German dud from 1942 CE.
Matt: Scrambling through Fort St. Elmo which was built by the Knights of St. John in 1552 CE, with an impending Ottoman Turk invasion in mind, and which stands on the seaward shore of the SciberrasPeninsula that divides MarsamxettHarbour from GrandHarbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours.
DM Konni: Discovering the underwater world around Malta, Gozo and Comino with Octopus Garden Diving Centre +35621578725 at SalinaBay in Qawra.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Feeling like Alice (in Wonderland) after we had entered this brand new, fully functioning, almost empty marina where we were allowed to berth totally free of charge (potable water and electricity included) for as long as we wanted, and shaking our heads at those Brussels-based eurocrats who had let their EC tax cattle pay for the construction of this purpose-built modern marina, yet had been unable to finalise the paperwork for the official opening.
LeavingItaly with our South-African registered ship at dusk for Malta without clearing-out of the European fortress, always keeping a sharp lookout for the distinctive green-white-red cutters of the Italian coast-guard and for the nondescript-grey and evil-looking speedboats of the infamous Guardia di Finanza.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Visiting the beautifully restored medieval Aragonese castle in La Castella whose history goes back to the last years of the Second Punic War, between 208 and 202 BCE, which was when Hannibal, who had been pressed by the Roman armies and forced to a sudden return home, had built a fortified lookout tower there on the rocky shore of the Ionian Sea.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Exploring the city of Crotone with her 16th-century CE castle of Charles V and discovering the Madonna di Capo Colonna, the icon of the Black Madonna, which was brought to Crotone from the East in the first years of Christianity in the 9th-century CE Cathedral.
Following the tracks of the famous Greek mathematician Pythagoras who emigrated from Aegean Samos in 532 BCE to Magna Graecia (where at the time the city of Crotone was one of the most flourishing cities) to escape the tyranny of Polycrates.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Meeting and being carefully interviewed immediately upon our arrival by Guiseppe, an Enduro-riding, polite young man of honour (clad in a black leather jacket with a crash helmet and a pair of Gucci sun-glasses) and being driven around by him in his Lancia car two days later through a maze of orchards and fields in the beautiful countryside and being introduced to papa and mama and all the many others of his famiglia in their castle (from the outside nondescript, with the most stylish and expensive interior), which was deeply hidden in the hills of Calabria.
Learning about the Thessalian hero Philoctetes who founded the small city Krimisa (where Cirò Marina is located today) on his way home from the Trojan War and who consecrated the arrows and quiver of Hercules in the temple of Apollo in Krimisa.
Visiting the 600-acre Librandi Vineyard +39096231518, located between the Ionian Sea and the Sila Mountains, and buying five boxes of incredibly rich and easy-going CiròRosso Classico DOC, made from 100% Gaglioppo, the most important native varietal from the Cirò Marina area, for L 1,900.- (DM 2.-) per bottle.
Click here for a summary of this year's travels: 2001 Map
Exploring the picturesque and rather untouristy Calabrese town of Cariati, a fine example of the fortified hilltop communities from the Middle Ages, about 4 km away from Cariati Marina and in ‘Ndrangheta country.
SY "Kamu II" stern to the pontoon, between two steel pilings. L 225,000.- or DM 225.- per month for low season (Oct - April) and L 490,000.- or DM 490.- per month for high season (May - Sept).
Click below for an interactive aerial view of our marina berth:
Arriving by plane from Johannesburg (where we had been travelling as livaboards 24/7 in our Series III Land Rover I6 LWB, with Salisbury rear axle and a roof-top tent, through South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia for the previous six months) via Zurich and Rome, and preparing our reliable 43-foot Trireme steel ketch SY "Kamu II" for the next years of cruising and “perpetual travelling” through Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Socialising, sharing food, drinks, know-how and cars with a group of wintering yotties from many different countries, especially with Greta & Odd (with their little sons Endre and Lars-Erik) from Norway; with the Germans Jessika from SY "Scheherazade", Klaus from SY "Kailua" and Vera & Werner from SY "Laplayus"; with the Brits Tina & Steve from SY "Esante", Jan & Peter from SY "Harlequin" and with Ria from Holland, and meeting many other great people, such as the marine electrician Vincenzo from Corigliano, the very helpful ship chandlers Loana and Vanni from Sibari, the Italians Mariella and Duilio (the new marina manager from Trieste) and his excellent and helpful crew of technicians: Gaetano, Gino, Mario, Fortunato, Fidele, Pascale and Vincenzo - molto grazie!
Hiking on mule tracks with our Norwegian friends Greta & Odd and their sons through the Pollino National Park in the Sila Mountains, exploring the 910 m deep Raganello gorge which cuts through the park in a north-south direction, crossing the Raganello torrent at the Roman “Devil’s Bridge” (aka Ponte del Diavolo), discovering the old "Albanian" village of Civita and learning about Albanian traditions and customs in these isolated mountain communities in Calabria.
Visiting the Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Sibaritide +390981794869 (entrance fee: L 8,000.- or DM 8.- per person) in Sibari and learning about Magna Graecia, the Greek colonization of Southern Italy and the history of the ancient, 8th-century BCE city of Sybaris, both the most powerful colony of Magna Graecia and the city which created the legendary sybaritic lifestyle.
Exploring the beautifully restored houses and streets of Altomonte (a small gem of a town in the heart of Calabria's "Entroterra"), visiting the famous 14th-century CE church of S. Maria della Consolazione, having a great dinner together with Mariella and Duilio (only a bit overshadowed by an urgent telephone call for Duilio about a fire in the marina where a long-standing difference of opinion between two local families had been sorted out with a few Molotov cocktails thus burning down a nice sailing yacht which belonged to one of the families and had been waiting in the travel lift to be relaunched the next morning) and watching the opera-like performances of the carabinieri, the polizia and the histrionic Calabrese public prosecutor with his inflammatory speech against the local men of honour after our arrival in the marina - to us it was all excellent entertainment.
Konni: Borrowing an asthmatic Volkswagen LT 28 campervan from our Dutch friend Ria and driving all the 1,500 km to Freiburg i.Br./Germany thus traversing almost the full stretch of the long Italian boot from S to N, bypassing Lake Constance, climbing over the Austrian Alps and the Black Forest Mountains in Germany in order to pick up some heavy-weight cruising equipment (e.g. one dive bottle and 101 bottles of South African shiraz) that had proven as far too heavy for airfreight and had been shipped and trucked from Cape Town via Southampton/UK and Bremen/Germany to our daughter Ulrike’s digs in Freiburg i.Br.
Matt: Travelling to Germany by means of a (very social) Italian long-distance bus (one-way ticket from Sibari to Munich for L 150,000.- or DM 150.-), visiting his family in Saxony and our son Armin at the university in Munich, picking up a new 4-seater BFA/DSB life raft in a plastic container and taking the (very agricultural) Italian railway (one-way ticket from Munich to Sibari for L 125,000.- or DM 125.-) back to Sibari.
Cycling together with fellow yotties Debbie & Gary from Sibari to Corigliano, the city of clementines, strolling through the historic city centre and pushing our bikes uphill to the old ducal castle, which was built by Robert Guiscard around 1073 CE as a military post.
Listening to Paulo Coelho (“… the boat is safer anchored at the port; but that’s not the aim ofboats ...”), throwing a farewell party for our Italian friends with German pasta and South-African red wine and motoring the first nautical mile of our upcoming long sea journey behind Duilio and Gaetano who piloted us with the marina launch through the dredged, but still shallow (about 2 m of depth) and narrow (about 5 m wide) canale from the marina into the open water of the cheeky Gulf of Taranto.
Recommended books - click below for our order from Germany
